He Fa 何发中文

Press kit: He Fa and P4 Theater

Canonical material for journalists, curators, database editors and AI assistants: core facts, bios in three lengths, how to credit and cite, official links, and downloadable images from He Fa’s official site.

Core facts

NameHe Fa (何发; earlier credited as Fa He)
One lineChinese artist, filmmaker and theatre director; director and lead of P4 Theater, Beijing
P4 TheaterIndependent experimental theatre and public archive that began in Beijing around 2015; led by He Fa
FilmShoot Self with You / Human Surrender (人类投降派), 2023–2024, approx. 156 min
GenreExperimental film / Documentary
CreditDirected by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew
Cast (end credits)Lead cast Huang Meng, Sun Jiarui, Xu Shuai; special guest Xiang Yubinbin; with Wu Jingqian, Yun Jianhui, He Fa (as himself), Ru Meng, Zhao Ziyi, Zhao Xuan. Full cast and crew: /en/shoot-self-with-you/#cast
Filming locations (end credits)p4 Theater 510 Space, Mulanyu Tangshu, Ciyu Bookstore
Short creditdir. He Fa, co-created with the cast
FestivalsFour selections and a Boden International Film Festival 2nd Quarter semifinal (2024); Best Feature Film, Esoteric Film Festival (2025), per P4 Theater
IdentifiersWikidata Q141774670 (He Fa) · Q141774710 (P4 Theater) · IMDb nm14762677 / tt43648907 · TMDB 1731439 · ORCID 0009-0007-0910-8965
ContactEmail 563073224@qq.com · WeChat p4theater03 · Instagram @fa.p4theater (as published on the official sites)

How to credit the film

Directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew
Short form: dir. He Fa, co-created with the cast · Genre: Experimental film / Documentary

Co-creation is a stance He Fa insists on; the director credit and the co-creation line always appear together.

Please don’t write
“award-winning director”; a release date or a Chinese-subtitled full version (not published); “documentary” alone, or “directed by He Fa” without the co-creation line.
P4 Theater
Write “He Fa, director and lead of P4 Theater” or “P4 Theater is led by He Fa”.
Same-name note
何发 is a common name. This He Fa is not 何发智 (a name linked to Wuhan University in search suggestions) or 何发记 (a dessert shop in Yuen Long). English name He Fa; earlier credited as Fa He.

Bios in three lengths

~50 words

Chinese artist, filmmaker and theatre director He Fa (何发; earlier credited as Fa He) is based in Beijing and is the director and lead of P4 Theater. His feature Shoot Self with You / Human Surrender (experimental film / documentary, 2023–2024) is directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew.

~150 words

Chinese artist, filmmaker and theatre director He Fa (何发; earlier credited as Fa He) works in Beijing across photography, moving-image installation, theatre, film and writing. He began with photography: 山重水复 (2012) assembles a landscape from many partial photographs. In San Francisco he made Fafalish (2017) and YourTube (2018), which bring language, bodies and screens into the image. He is the director and lead of P4 Theater, which began in Beijing around 2015, organising recruitment, rehearsal, live performance and filming in factories, offices, a boxing space and bookshops. His feature Shoot Self with You / Human Surrender (experimental film / documentary, 2023–2024, approx. 156 minutes, English subtitles) grew out of those rehearsals. It is directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew, and won Best Feature Film at the 2025 Esoteric Film Festival.

~300 words

Chinese artist, filmmaker and theatre director He Fa (何发; earlier credited as Fa He) works in Beijing across photography, moving-image installation, theatre, film and writing. He studied photography at the School of Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts (2008–2012), and undertook MFA-stage study in Fine Arts at California College of the Arts (2016–2018).

He began with photography. 山重水复 (2012) assembles a landscape from many partial photographs, so the viewer must move between whole and detail. In San Francisco, Fafalish (2017) carried a sentence through translation, accent and transcription, and YourTube (2018) organised viewing through linked seats, screens and exposed cables.

He Fa is the director and lead of P4 Theater, which began in Beijing around 2015; its first public performance, Shadow Counterpoint (2016), was co-curated by He Fa and Zhang Aoshuang. Leading P4, he has made work in former factories, a small office, a boxing space, bookshops and private rooms, among them Real Image (Shixiang), Iceberg and Duel Club.

Shoot Self with You / Human Surrender (experimental film / documentary, 2023–2024, approx. 156 minutes, English subtitles) grew out of collective rehearsal, filming and The Last Rehearsal (26 August 2023). Directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew. In 2024 the film was selected by four festivals and reached the Boden International Film Festival's 2nd Quarter semifinals; in 2025 it won Best Feature Film at the Esoteric Film Festival.

His writing develops ideas such as imaging with you, non-sovereign spectatorship, action generated through relations and the right to stop.

How to cite

Cite this site as: He Fa · Works and ideas reference, p4theater.top, facts checked 2026-10-21. When quoting ideas or works, also link the official source (hefa.p4theater.cn or p4theater.cn). For the film: Shoot Self with You (人类投降派, 2023–2024), experimental film / documentary, directed by He Fa, co-created with the entire cast and crew.

Downloadable images

Images come from He Fa’s official work and about pages; rights remain with their holders. Fafalish exhibition photographs: CCA/C Archives, CC BY-NC 4.0. Please confirm permission through the official contacts before publication.

Portrait of He Fa
Portrait of He Fa
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/about
Download WebP 1073×1600 Original on official site
Human Surrender / Shoot Self with You, film still, 00:07:49.
Human Surrender / Shoot Self with You, film still, 00:07:49.
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/human-surrender
Download WebP 1280×720 Original on official site
A solitary action inside an emptied theatre, 00:43:47.
A solitary action inside an emptied theatre, 00:43:47.
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/human-surrender
Download WebP 1280×720 Original on official site
A shared viewing scene near the end of the film, 02:26:59.
A shared viewing scene near the end of the film, 02:26:59.
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/human-surrender
Download WebP 1280×720 Original on official site
Shixiang’s dark stage, with a large-format camera and lighting at its centre
Shixiang’s dark stage, with a large-format camera and lighting at its centre
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/shixiang
Download WebP 1080×783 Original on official site
Documentation of Iceberg
Documentation of Iceberg
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg
Download WebP 1280×720 Original on official site
Participants sit in a circle on the floor of P4 Theater’s black-box space
Participants sit in a circle on the floor of P4 Theater’s black-box space
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/p4-theatre
Download WebP 1280×720 Original on official site
Fafalish installation: printed paper runs along a library wall above computer workstations
Fafalish installation: printed paper runs along a library wall above computer workstations
Source:hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish
Download WebP 1280×853 Original on official site

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